The lost days
by DidgeAlice
Summary: (Set between episodes 6 and 10 in season 2), When Ben left the second mass he had never expected it to be this hard with reoccurring nightmares of being harnessed and more danger lurking in the never ending forest then he could ever of imagined as he searches for the rebels. (First upload hope you enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you did or didn't like Thankyou)
1. Chapter 1

(I don't own any of the characters or concepts of the show falling skies)

* * *

**Part 1 the forest:**

My senses are numbed. The room is full of children that are screaming for their mothers, I must think and try to escape but the kids are distracting me and then I realise that I'm crying as well. The room is pitch black, I can't see a thing, I can feel a warm body half leaning on mine and about 5 practically sitting on me, I can't stand it any longer the kids screaming are like finger nails on a chalk board and with every cry I feel more and more scared, the fear is leaking into my veins and making me feel ice-cold. My asthma is practically choking me, I reach for my pocket but my hands are tied and I can't move, my inhaler is in my pocket and with every breath being harder to take I'm unsure if I will even live to see what is about to happen but that's when the door crashes open and I see them. My eyes fly open seeing the dark surrounding forest, I reach for my gun feeling the cold metal against my skin and search for the source of the sound that awoke me, I stare but no danger is visible all that I can see in the pitch black are the tall pine trees which move with cold breeze, the forest seems much lonelier at night with nothing but the shadows to comfort me. I take a long deep breath feeling air retract into my lungs and be breathed out into the cold night's air, I feel a little bit of fear be washed off as I relies that I can breathe once again. I'm freezing! my blankets have been kicked off and I can't help but let a nice memory flood into my head of my father coming in late at night and tucking me back into bed and then, and then No! I can't allow myself to think of my family, I have to remind myself that I left to protect them and after the Karen incident I had to leave. I take one last look into the cold unfriendly forest and place my gun next to me, I grab my blanket and pull it on top of me trying to reclaim some warmth but I feel the cold sticking to my skin like glue and relies that I'm wet, how could this be? My chest is soaked, I look around my bag and blanket are both dry and the ground is to, and suddenly I discover that this is not water that I'm covered in its sweat. I sigh and stare at my makeshift bed which is really just my jumper folded up under my head and a scratchy blanket n barely covering my body, I should sleep at least for a little while longer but I can't, the idea of dreaming again makes me more terrified then being surrounded by skitters so I stand up and grab my bag, maybe some food will calm me down.

I shiver but I can't tell if it's from fear or the cold as I search my bag for some sort of food, I rummage through and find the last can of food I have left, a can of baked beans my favourite I reach for my knife to open my meal when I realise that this is the only food I have left and I should wait I don't know when ill see another one, but my stomach growls and I feel more hungry than I have felt in a long time I guess the second mass was better at keeping us feed then I thought, it's been a week since I left the second mass in search for the rebels and already I'm letting myself go hungry. I decide that I'll hang onto the can of food for a little longer as I shove my belongings into my bag, I should probably start walking it looks like if I'm going to find food I will have to get out of this never ending forest.

* * *

I know slightly boring but gets better in chapter 3 where it gets pretty intense then there wont be many boring parts (1 and 2 are just the lead up)


	2. Chapter 2

I've been walking for hours but the sun has only just started to rise, the dirt road I walk along is covered in dark green weeds the grow all over and beside the road. I look around everywhere I go is covered in tall pine trees and thorny bushes , I wasn't sure where we were before I left the second mass and now I have absolutely no clue. I stare down at my map which makes no sense to me anymore I thought I was in a national park of some sort but now I realise that it couldn't have ever been a park because it is nearly 100 miles away from the main road where I left the second mass. I stare down the never ending road wondering if all this is worth it, I'm searching for answers that may never be found and all for this promise that may not even be true, the promise of a rebellion for the very creatures that had attacked us in the first place. I stop walking and start to think maybe I should just go to Charleston, I may never be treated normally there but it's better to be close to your family instead of wondering down a never ending road hoping that you will find a reason or a place to be accepted isn't it?. I stop seeing movement up ahead, a giant metal figure with bright lights is heading up the road and I don't relies until it's too late and the mech has spotted me, I freeze my bones refusing to move, I've never faced a mech alone especially with my best weapon being a gun with limited ammunition. I hear the loud noise that almost signals a breath before shooting and I convince myself to run, the bullet just misses my leg but more bullets are coming and flying past my head as I slide down the edge of the dirt road and run into the forest hoping the coverage of the shrubbery and the tall dark green trees will cover me, the mech follows but is too big to fit through certain gaps in the giant leafy trees, that buys me some time as I run into a swamp with mud sinking up to my knees, I attempt to run but the running turns to stumbling as the mud trips me with every step the mech is firing into the forest out of desperation, so I weave through the paper bark trees and pine trees. I stop, I can't hear the meck shooting or moving anymore so I slow down and allow myself to catch my breath, I slowly and carefully try to not make a sound and wonder threw the swamp and suddenly I feel a hand drop onto my shoulder from a branch of an old willow, I look up seeing a girl with golden hair and pale green eyes staring at me and gesturing me to climb up the tall tree. I follow her direction as I climb into the old tree whose leafy green foliage keeps us concealed from plain sight. I'm about to introduce myself when she stops me by putting her hand over my mouth just in time because the silver mech passes underneath the tree, covered in leaves and mud. The mech stops at our feet and looks as if searching for me but after a couple of minutes it continues to charge through the forest and out of sight, we sit there clinging to the trees branch for several minutes until we cannot hear or see the mech anymore, the girl removes her hand from my mouth and stares at me for several seconds, I stare into her emerald eyes that are full of kindness, her lips poses a little smile and her face has a pink scare the travels down the side of her face and stops just before touching her eye. "I think it's gone, we better head down. From experience they'll be more at nightfall so we better start heading in the opposite direction." The girl whispers and jumps off the low hanging branch and lands gracefully onto her feet. I follow but I don't lands as gracefully and I end up falling onto my knees. The girl looks down at me and giggles slightly, I've never been too great with the girls I think as I get summon the courage to stand up. "Where are you heading?" She asks. "I'm not sure, down the road I think" I say without even thinking about it, I have to think carefully this girl cannot know about the rebellion she may not understand, and after Karen I shouldn't be trusted speaking to girls. "Well if you not sure where your heading, why don't you come with me before that robot comes back?" she asks casually, I look down the way the mech walked, I'm not sure what Il do if it comes back and I don't want to find out, I stare at this girl who looks trust worthy enough and from the looks of it knows how to defend herself. "Yer but I'm kind of looking for something so just until were far away from the mech", "Mech?, I've never heard people call them that before, I like it mech though, it just rolls of the tongue wll. What's your name?" She asks before searching the forest for something. "Ben, what are you looking for?" I say while looking at her emotionless face, "Nice to meet you Ben, I'm Cecily. I'm looking for my friend Nick, he went of hunting for a while and I waited in that tree, obviously he hasn't made it back yet" She says as she steps onto her tippy toes as if to get a higher view. "I know where he is, he's probably fishing down at the lake. It's only like 10 minutes away, should we go have a look?" Rose asks as I stare in the direction the mech went, the trees that had once stood strong were now bent to make a big enough pathway for the giant machine. "I'm happy with anything as long as we move, I do not want to see it again" I almost whisper while trying to avert my eyes from the mechs forced pathway.


	3. Chapter 3

I watch Cecily as she walks about a meter in front of me, her eyes are locked strait in front of her as if she has her eye set on a prize. Her feet are heavy and every step I can hear as if I have head phones in, I think back to how Hal scraps his feet when he walks. Whenever Hal was in front of Margaret and I would mention that he was scrapping his heels, Hal would pretend to laugh but later in private he would yell at me for embarrassing him in front of her, stupid jock needing to show her that he's perfect at everything including something as simple as walking. I allow myself a brief smile before I'm flooded with the pain of having a memory of Hal and my family, "You ok there Ben" Cecily asks and makes me snap back into reality, she's stopped walking and is watching my face which I know relies has a very painful expression on it. I force a smile "Yer just tired that's all" I say which makes her turn around and continue walking. "Ok, we're almost at the lake so just hold on and then Nick and I have a camp set up nearby which should be far away from the aliens hopefully". As we walk I look into the dense bush that reflect the many different shades of green and think that maybe I should leave these people, I don't know them and I don't want to jeopardise their safety because Karen's looking for me but I don't, I continue walking because I'm tired and hungry and this girls been nothing but kind to me and I'm hoping this boy Nick will show me some kindness although I'm 'different', I stop and rest my hand on my spikes feeling the cold metal against my hand and in a small moment of worry I pull my jumper high enough to cover my spikes without making myself look too strange and I start to walk fast to catch up to Cecily. "We're here" Cecily says as she walks out of the trees and into a clearing where a small pond is only just visible, I stare feeling nerves of meeting this Nick person but somehow summon the courage, I walk out into the clearing. The lake is shimmering like glass and possesses a strange light brownie colour. The trees are all a very light green and most look to be old oaks, I stare never seeing more beauty in a forest and then I hear it the familiar voice of an old nemesis, the words I hear sound like my death sentence. "Hello Ben" a blond haired figure practically yells as she emerges from the tree line, the girl stares at me and smiles as a mud covered mech follows her and 3 skitters tag along only a few steps behind her. Cecily approaches Karen "Here I brought you the him, so can you please give Nick back" Cecily practically pleads while showing her desperation and I can't help feeling betrayed and stupid, the two girls that have betrayed me the most are both here and are making me feel more scared then I have felt in awhile as I stand in an unfamiliar forest who's beauty has been stolen by Karen and it occurs to me that there is no second mass to save me know. "Nick's already here, but he kept crying and making noise and I was worried he'd scare Ben away, I tried to warn him but he kept crying so I threw him in the lake and that shut him right up" Karen says unemotionally as she looks me right in the eye, Cecily sobs and cries hysterically. "What do you want Karen?" I ask with a strained voice, I've had a long day and all this fear is making me feel as if I'm frozen suffocating. "Ben, I want you to tell me everything you know about the 2nd mass and more importantly the rebel skitters" Karen says softly and calmingly to try and convince me that the act about caring for me was real. "Well your wasting your time, I don't know anything about the rebels or the 2nd mass because I'm not with them" I almost shout at her expressionless face through the sobs that Cecily cannot control and through the pain that's making me want to run and let the mech gun me down. "Ben" she whispers softly and almost flirtingly as the blond haired girl with dead eyes tries to caress my face but I grab her wrist squeeze it too tight and throw it to her waist, "Ben, if you don't tell me I'm going to kill you but I don't wish to do that, that's why I didn't bring my master, I just want to talk" Karen tells me with a little more strength in her voice while she tries to maintain her flirty way of talking. "Well I don't want to talk, so you may as well kill me." I yell passive aggressively, Karen stares me down "Well you will talk" she says firmly as her spikes light up and one skitter grabs me around the waist and arms so all I can do is attempt to struggle while the other walks over to the water and starts pulling on a rope that leads into the lake, Karen approaches me as I struggle to escape from the skitters grip and starts to caresses my face "After I've made you talk, I am going to hurt you badly. Like that" she whispers in my ear and points to what the skitters pulls out of the lake, the rope is slowly pulled up and I can already guess what's on the other end and I don't want to look but for some reason I can't avert my eyes and I see a boy about my age who has a rope tied around his neck and all I can smell is death as I hear Cecily cry even harder and I see the soaked corpse. Karen smiles as I stare.


	4. Chapter 4

All I can do is stare as Karen looks at me, she's more than pleased when she sees the look of horror on my face and I can see her watching me and smiling. I need to calm down I remind myself, I've seen dead bodies before when fighting for the second mass so it shouldn't be such a big deal. So calm down I tell myself but it's no use because I know it's not the body so much that distresses me it's the reaction of what happened after the body was pulled out of the lake and Karen started laughing while Cecily kept crying and its more than obvious that Karen is going to kill her and it's just a matter of time. "So let's start with something easy shall we?, Where's the 2nd mass heading?" Karen asks in a patronising tone that makes me feel as if I'm a child that's missed place something, I stare into Karen's face whose expression hasn't changed since the body was pulled out of the river it's as if she has won a golden ticket by kidnapping me. "Go to hell" I protest and she looks into my eyes as if she's searching for something, I can see happiness almost glint in her cold expression. "In case you haven't realised this is hell Ben. So I guess I'll have to do this the hard way" Karen yells as if trying to show off to the skitters, Karen snatches my bag from the ground and tips out the contents until she finds something sharp, my pocket knife. "Seeing as your Hals brother I'll give you one last chance before I hurt you, Where are they?" Karen taunts me by pulling the knife out and holding it against my shoulder blade without cutting. "Hurt me all you want I'm not telling you anything" I snarl feeling anger rise in me like a storm which has been building up since the day Karen kidnapped me the first time, Karen looks into my eyes and realises that I'm serious.

The pain from her cutting my shoulder wasn't as bad as I had imagined it would be I must admit but I still felt enough pain that I had to bite my tongue, if I'm going to have Karen torture me I'm going to keep my dignity so for the past hour I have watched my blood ooze onto the grass and cover Karen's hands as she gets more and more frustrated, the sun is setting and Karen's almost given up when she looks at the lake as if for inspiration and then she whispers "Do you know how it feels to drown Ben?" , "I know what it's like to not be able to breathe but I've never experienced drowning" I stutter, not being able to think. I'm not sure how much longer I can take when the Skitter drags me over to the pond while leaving a trail of blood and holds my head over the water, "Seeing as we've spent an hour on the same question, how about we try another?" Karen asks threw big gasps of air, I can tell she tired and is about to give up. "Where did you see the rebel skitters last?", I think long and hard but the last time I saw red eye was back when Rick died and I can't think straight long enough to remember, everything hurts and every thought I have is about revenge or me feeling sorry for myself. "Karen, I'm seriously not lying I don't know where I was" I practically beg Karen to believe me but as always she stays silent and allows the only noise to be Cecily's sobs as she calls to the skitter "Dunk him". I feel the ice cold water rush around my ears and neck and suddenly I panic, the breath of air I took is used up in seconds and I'm left feeling distressed, I try and bring my head up but I feel the skitter pushing me, in my moment of panic I open my mouth as if to breath under water and water gushes into my mouth and down my throat, as the panic drips into my stomach I can't help but beg for death, the time where I don't have to feel this way anymore.

And then I relies this is my chance for escape, the skitter is pushing me and not pulling me so therefore I can fall into the water if I pick the right time and then swim to freedom hopefully. I try and pull my head up, my visions getting cloudy, and the skitter pushes me so I let it and with my last bit of strength I pull my legs under and suddenly I'm fully immersed in the lake and as my head starts to feel weak I swim to the top and breath in a mouth full of air, Karen's yelling at me but I don't have time to listen. The skitters can't swim so I have a chance seeing as this lake stretches pretty far it will take some time before they can get around, so I take off and as soon as I get to the bank I run. Its only when I take a second to look back I allow the guilt to drip into my veins for leaving Cecily behind and as I run I can hear her sobs fade into the distance but the Cecily betrayed me and I can't run straight back to Karen.


End file.
